“Florida is Florida” says a thankful Jones: Florida Gators

The Florida Gators coaching staff was on the road last week evaluating prospects not only in the 2017 class but also the 2018 and 2019 classes.

One prospect that caught defensive line coach Chris Rumph’s eye was 2018 safety Mike Jones Jr. (6-0, 200, Bradenton, FL IMG Academy), who earned an offer on Monday night.

“Coach Rumph was the coach that offered me the scholarship,” a happy Jones said. “He said that I’m a heckuva of a ball player and that he was going to offer me a scholarship. He said ‘you’re going to be a Gator’.”

Jones Jr. got the offer over the phone from Rumph, but just two weeks ago the safety was on campus at Florida.

“The visit was great man, I loved the facilities and the visit,” he said of his recent visit to Florida. “The staff was very nice, everyone was cool and they all treated us like we’re huge priorities to them. I had a great time at Florida.”

During the visit Jones Jr. had the opportunity to meet defensive backs coach Torrian Gray for the first time and it was good meeting, according to the safety.

“Coach Gray is a great guy and he’s really honest,” Jones said of his meeting with Gray. “He’s going to be real with you and he’s not going to try and throw you fluff or nothing like that. I like that about coaches.”

Gray didn’t get a lot of one-on-one time with Jones Jr. since there were so many prospects on campus that day, but the safety thinks they will talk ball soon.

“We didn’t get to talk a lot of ball, he was just showing us around,” he said. “As we continue to build our relationship and I continue to come up there I’m sure we will get the chance to talk ball. He did talk about my film and he said that he liked it a lot.”

Jones Jr. is originally from Tennessee, but he says knows a good bit about Florida and he broke it down to one major point.

“Florida is Florida; there isn’t too much better than Florida,” a laughing Jones said of what he know about Florida. “Football wise the Gators are Florida, everyone is trying to beat them every game. I mean its Florida.”

When Jones was offered the scholarship he said he instantly thanked Rumph for the offer and it was a big one.

“I was so happy to get the offer especially since I moved down to Bradenton, Florida because you want an offer from the state you’re playing in,” he said of his emotion after the offer. “When they offered I was surprised, because I didn’t think it was coming this quick, but I was thankful. I’m thankful for all of the coaches who have invested their time in me.”

Jones doesn’t plan to be a stranger around Gainesville now that he has the offer and he already has a trip planned to Florida.

“Now that I’m in Florida, I’m going to be up there as much as I can be,” Jones said. “It’s not like it’s far away from me or anything. I know that I’m coming up for a summer trip already.”

INSIDERS TAKE: Jones says he wants to make a decision before his senior year starts, but he’s still only going into his junior year so he has time. In 2018 Jones should be one of the top defensive backs in the state of Florida.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.